Latest ObamaCare 'reprieve'

May 8th, 2011 in Opinion Free Press

Considering how often the American people were promised that ObamaCare would vastly improve medical care, doesn't it seem odd that the administration keeps having to offer exemptions and bailouts when the law's painful provisions actually kick in?

In March alone, the administration granted 128 waivers from the benefit requirements of the law. That brought the total number of unions, businesses and other groups that are getting exemptions from ObamaCare's rules to nearly 1,200, The Hill newspaper in Washington reported. The exempted health plans of those organizations cover about 3 million Americans all told.

Why did those groups seek waivers? Because ObamaCare's provisions are just too costly - as the administration's granting of the waivers quietly acknowledges.

"The fact that over 1,000 waivers have been granted is a tacit admission that the health care law is fundamentally flawed," U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., told the newspaper.

GOP Rep. Tom Graves, whose district includes the area of Georgia closest to Chattanooga, put it a different way. Speaking on the floor of the House, Graves asked why only a few million Americans' health plans should be exempt from burdensome ObamaCare.

"[L]et's save the rest of America here today ... and zero out the payments to those ObamaCare bureaucrats," he declared.

But instead of admitting that the law was a huge mistake, the administration has dug in its heels - while continuing to try to hide the destructive impact of ObamaCare.

"Millions of seniors in popular private insurance plans offered through Medicare will be getting a reprieve from some of the most controversial cuts in President Barack Obama's health care law," The Associated Press reported recently. The administration is having to pump an extra $7 billion - diverted from the so-called "Medicare trust fund" - into Medicare Advantage plans to "head off service cuts that would have been a headache for Obama and Democrats in next year's elections ... ."

Think about that: If ObamaCare were all it was cracked up to be, why would the administration have to offer one waiver or bailout after another to keep the law from harming so many individuals, businesses or other organizations?

The president's obvious hope is that he and Democrats in Congress can get past the 2012 elections before too many of ObamaCare's detrimental consequences become apparent to the public.

Is it any wonder that a recent AP poll found only about one-third of Americans - and even a smaller percentage of senior citizens - support Obama-Care? Is it any surprise that a majority of the states have sued to have the law declared unconstitutional, which it clearly is?

Barring an unlikely congressional repeal of ObamaCare, the American people should sincerely hope that those lawsuits prevail.